Guard play at any level is a key to having a successful season and team. On Saturday night, the Binghamton Bearcats (11-13, 8-7) pointed that out in a loud and clear fashion. Their trio of backcourt mates John McGriff (21 points), Jacob Falko (10 points), and Dan Petcash (19 points) were too much for UMass Lowell (13-13, 5-9) to handle as the River Hawks fell to the Bearcats, 78-64. Assistant coach Biko Paris talked after the game about the trio. In McGriff and Falko’s case, he said “they are all-league players.” McGriff is “fast and quick’ Falko is a “bigger stronger guard.” Both were able to get to the rim and score, and when that was shut off their mid-range shooting was right on target. Petcash was able to knock down three’s (3-of-3 from deep) to open lanes up for his mates to drive to the basket. It was a problem that Lowell had no real answers for. The Bearcats scored 46 points in the paint and most of those points came from this trio.
This was a tight game for the first seven minutes of it. The River Hawks would build an eight-point lead thanks in large part to the play off the bench from graduate student John Hall. He had six of eight straight points to give his team a 19-11 lead with 11:45 left in the half. Hall would finish the night with his first double-double of the season (10 points, 10 rebounds). Afterward, Paris said of Hall “he has been playing well the last month.” Lowell would grab their biggest lead of the half on an Ayinda Hikim short jumper in the paint to make it 24-15 with 9:13 to play in the half. Hikim had 14 on the night.
From there, the Bearcats started to chip away at the River Hawk advantage. Kellen Amos (12 points off the bench) scored five quick ones on a couple of free throws. Then, off a steal, he drew a foul and converted a three-point play to get his team back to within five at 24-19. Petcash would tie the game at 26-26 on a layup at the rim. Lowell would regain the lead on back-to-back buckets from Kalil Thomas and Allin Blunt (15 points). Lowell had a four-point lead again at 32-28 with less than four minutes to play. Binghamton would finish the half on a 6-0 run to take the lead to the locker room. All three baskets were layins. First, it was Falko, then McGriff, and then Falko again to beat the buzzer and give the Bearcats a 34-32 halftime advantage. Both teams shot the ball well from the field and the foul line in that first half.
The start of the second half saw the River Hawks get Max Brooks (10 points) going. He had only two points in the first twenty minutes. But in the first four minutes of half number two he had six, including a dunk that made it a one-possession game at 43-41 Bearcats with 16:36 to play. After another Brooks dunk made it a one-point game at 47-46, The Bearcats took the game over. A 9-0 run gave Binghamton their first double-digit lead of the game at 56-46 with 10:32 to play. Petcash and Falko had four apiece. The River Hawks would get as close as down six on an Everette Hammond three-ball corner pocket to make the score 56-50 with 9:36 left. Binghamton would get the lead to as high as 17 on two occasions. The first on a McGriff layup off of a River Hawk turnover. The second time on a Christian Hinckson dunk with 1:42 to play. The final score from Lowell was Binghamton 78 Lowell 64.
With four games left in the regular season, UMass Lowell needs to reestablish itself. The team is now 3-4 in the month of February after going 2-5 in January. Coach Paris talked about the no quit in the team. He believes they will come back from the adversity they are now facing. But at the same time, he knows as does this team that with only two weeks left in the regular season, time is not on their side. Wednesday night they host Stony Brook at Costello.
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